WEDNESDAY, AND WE'RE IN SEVILLE

Hello from Seville!  We had a nice relaxing train ride to Seville this morning.  The high-speed train zipped through the pretty countryside at over 100 miles an hour, and in only 45 inures we were in Seville.  Oh, how I wish we had this kind of train travel in the U.S!  We are light years behind most of the world with our lack of efficient public transportation.

We took a taxi to our apartment; our driver was quite impatient with other traffic and drivers.  After much hand waving, horn honking and muttering, he deposited us at the small square in front of the street to our apartment.

Looking down our narrow street:

 David at the entranced to our apartment building:

Here are pictures of our apartment in Seville, just for our Dear Bren--because she always wonders about our accommodations!

From the front door looking at the dining area:

Nice efficient kitchen:

Small but comfy living room:

Itty-bitty bathroom:

Tiny bedroom--but the bed is soft and really comfy:

The house cleaner was still busy cleaning our apartment, so we dropped off our bags and hit the streets to find some lunch and explore our neighborhood.

Right near our apartment we passed this small bar/cafe--love the wine in barrels with spouts!

Within a few blocks we came to a main street and a large plaza, and sat ourselves down at a sidewalk cafe.   Here's my sweetie, just relaxin' in Seville:

The view was great--these are ancient Roman columns from the site of the Temple of Marmoles.  The statues on the tops are of Hercules and Julius Caesar.  These were excavated in the late 1500's::

We ordered a plate of grilled squid to share, and also some stuffed mushrooms.  They squid was absolutely delicious--very tender and sweet.

We even had live entertainment--two accordion players--they were very lively:

After our lunch, we went back to our apartment, stopping along the way at a grocery store to stock up for our short stay here in Seville.  Our apartment was ready for us when we got back, so we spent a few minutes unpacking and putting away our groceries.  It was about 3 pm, and way too early to stay in for the evening, so we went back out to explore our neighborhood some more.  

Look, Matt!  Dad found a Starbucks close by:

We wandered around for several blocks, doing some window shopping--as most stores were still closed for siesta.  At about 4 pm, we decided we needed a little rest, so we found a small sidewalk cafe and shared a plate of grilled baby artichokes--mmmmmm good.  The wine wasn't too bad, either!

As we were relaxing and enjoying our glass of wine, we spotted a pretty church down the narrow street.  This is the Iglesia Colegial del Salvador, built in 1674-1712

We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was open, so we paid our 8E each and popped in for a look--it was pretty over the top ornate:

This is just one of the wall chapels along the nave, there are a total of 14 beautiful and historic altar pieces, dating from 15-17th centuries:

A larger chapel with a double altar, dates from 1696

This altar is called the Christ of Humility and Patience:

A small chapel with a altar featuring St. Crispin, patron saint of shoe makers:

All of the stained glass windows are done in this style--which looks very contemporary.  I wonder if they are from a much later time period?

The high altar, dating from 1777:

After quite some time in the church, we just continued our wandering.  The streets in Seville are lovely--lots of pretty architecture:

About 7:00 we decided we needed to rest our tired feet for a while, so we sat down yet again to relax with a cold beverage--I had sangria, which was delicious and refreshing.  I can justify it, as it has fruit and fruit juice--just like having a serving of fruit!

David, looking quite handsome with his hat on backwards:

After that quick rest, we slowly made our way back to our apartment, where we did a couple of loads of laundry;  here's David trying to figure out the washer--it's kind of confusing!  I think he looks like a kid watching cartoons!

 And,  much later, as I was getting ready for bed, I was walking back to the bedroom and had the loveliest surprise of the day……….
.
.
.
.
.
.
A HUGE cockroach--at least 1 1/2 " long, was crawling along in the bedroom doorway

YIKES!  I jumped about a foot off the floor, screeched and screamed like a girl, flung my toothbrush in the air and hopped onto the bed all in a about one second!  I didn't know I could move that fast---and it's a miracle I didn't throw my back out or something. David came to my rescue and squished the poor thing by dropping his shoe on it, then flushed it down the toilet.  Ugh--I sure hope there are no more of those nasty critters.

After that bit of excitement, we hit the sack.  I'll admit it was a little hard to get to sleep with visions of cockroaches dancing in my head………..